As one Prospect Street resident sees it, a few more cars in search of parking spaces won’t make any difference in her life. “Once the students are back, there are no free spaces on my street,” Annette Lynch said Tuesday.

Living only two blocks from the campus, Lynch once had great hopes that the construction of a new Allegheny College parking lot on the corner of Prospect and Park Avenue would have an impact on on-street parking in her neighborhood. So far, however, that hasn’t happened. “The students tell me they won’t pay to park there, so they won’t do it,” she said.

This afternoon, members of Meadville City Council will consider a resolution authorizing a 90-day trial that would eliminate approximately 25 parking spaces along two sections of North Main Street passing through the Allegheny campus. The proposed parking ban would effectively eliminate parking between John Street, which enters campus just south of the former Odd Fellows Building, and Loomis Street, which serves as part of the southern boundary of the campus.

According to Larry Lee, Allegheny’s associate vice president for finance and planning, any fears that the move might cause parking spill-over into residential streets are unfounded.

While nine spaces between John and Prospect streets and about another 16 spaces between Lord’s Gate and Loomis Street would be eliminated, a new 92-space on-campus lot near the new Vukovich Theatre and Communication Arts building will open in time for the first day of classes on Aug. 28, Lee said. During the past three years, the college has added more than 200 on-campus parking spaces.

As Lee sees it, the vast majority of those affected will be faculty and staff. “I see a lot of staff parking there for the day,” he said, noting that most of the vehicles leave for the day between 4 and 5 p.m. “People want the most convenient parking they can get,” Lee added. “If they can park next door to their building, that’s what they’ll do. People tend to choose convenience.”

He isn’t concerned about faculty and staff spillover into nearby residential neighborhoods for one reason: Plenty of other options are available on-campus. “Even the large lot behind Odd Fellows (on the corner of North Main and Allegheny Street) is very close to most of the academic buildings,” he said.

On-campus parking is free for faculty and staff, but students pay an annual fee of $150. According to Lynch, therein lies the rub. Lee disagrees, noting that student leaders agreed the fee was reasonable when it was imposed.

While he isn’t concerned that eliminating on-street parking in the middle of campus might have an effect on nearby neighborhoods, taking a similar step along its west side is another story. “I see people moving their cars into the residential neighborhoods if there was ever an effort to eliminate parking on Park Avenue,” Lee said.

As for what steps the college might take to encourage students to purchase a permit and park on campus, “When you have a population of 2,000 students living on campus, you are going to have someone who says $1 is too much,” he said.

If approved by council, the trial period would begin as soon as the necessary signage is put into place, according to City Manager Joe Chriest. However, Chriest noted Monday that city workers are currently working on several other projects. “It’s hard to say if it can start before Allegheny starts,” he said.

An idea whose time has come?

Vehicle-related concerns are nothing new in the area immediately surrounding Allegheny College. Traditionally, these concerns have centered around two key factors: extended-stay parking and pedestrian safety.

Over the years, for example, efforts to eliminate “permaparked” cars have resulted in the ban of overnight parking in several locations, including Sherman Street, which serves the remainder of the campus’ southern border.

In December 2004, Pennsylvania Department of Transportation and Allegheny unveiled new crosswalk alert signs and a massive education effort. While there had been no fatal crashes in the college portion of North Main Street in recent memory, the college’s director of safety and security said at the time that 22 accidents had been reported between Loomis and Allegheny streets in recent years. At the time, Meadville resident Hugh King expressed surprise that no one had been killed recently.